


Save What We Love

by Shadows_of_Fire_and_Blood



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker - Fandom
Genre: Alternative Scene, Ben Solo Deserved Better, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Reylo - Freeform, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:22:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25113853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadows_of_Fire_and_Blood/pseuds/Shadows_of_Fire_and_Blood
Summary: DARKNESS RISES, AND LIGHT TO MEET IT.
Relationships: Ben Solo/Rey
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14





	Save What We Love

**Author's Note:**

> Reylo was one of my longest lasting OTPs' and Rise of Skywalker disappointed me so much I abandoned ship for a while, I thought creating my own RoS ending 'fix-it' might make me feel better :)

Rey collapsed, physically and mentally drained, falling to the ashy ground, she curled in on herself slightly, panting for breath, she’d done it…Palpatine was gone, for good. Balance had been restored to the galaxy.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so tired, other than on Jakku as a scrapper. 

She felt weightless, peacfull…maybe just a few minuetes of sleep…

Then she heard it, the voice of the Jedi, telling her, willing her to get up…why? She couldn’t remember, there was something but…  
Ben.

The sudden, singular thought felt like a punch in the gut and the woman glanced to the edge of the cavern, where she’d last seen Ben being thrown over by Palpatine.

Scrambling to her feet, Rey stumbled towards the jagged edge and peered over. There he was, clearly struggling and in pain, Ben had climbed over halfway up the cavern, grasping at rocks and ledges

“Ben!” 

The former Siths’ head snapped up to meet her gaze, relief flooded his veins, Rey could feel it and she smiled at him, reaching for him.

Steadying himself, he let go of the ledge and raised his hand to hers, sweat gathering on their brows as they stretched out their arms for each other.

‘Come on’ she mouthed to him

He was so close, she could almost feel his fingertips touch on hers…then he slipped, skidding down the cavern wall

Her stomach dropped, panic flooded her veins, and she saw the same emotion in him.

“No!” Rey shouted, lunging forward, almost toppling over the side with him.

Ben grunted, grabbing at the wall to regain his bearings.

To Reys’ immeasurable relief, he did, breathing heavily as he glanced down, Ben watched tiny fragments of stone fall away and drop down into the darkness below them, the distance too great for him to even hear them hit the ground. 

Rey leant further over the edge of the cavern, stretching out her arm as much as physically possible, she reached out with The Force, hoping to bring him close enough for her to grab on to.

“Ben!” she called urgently, she couldn’t let him give up, not now, not when they had finally found each other, when they could finally be together.

His muscles screamed in discomfort but he told himself not to let go…there was no way he would survive the fall again.

But Rey was insistent; she wanted him to live, she wanted him to make it, with every fibre of her being she wanted him to live…she needed him, needed him like she needed oxygen.  
“Ben, please! I’ll help you!” she pleaded

‘I need you, Ben!’ she told him silently, though through the bond their shared he heard her, as sure and clear as if the words had passed her lips.

At last he found it, the strength and resolve to do it, to keep going. He released his hold on the sturdy stone, feeling her steady him with the Force and he reach for her, as he had once hoped she would, back in Snokes’ throne room. 

This time, neither of them would turn away, neither of them would deny the other any longer, by pure, simple fact of needing each other, they were darkness, they were light, they were one; neither capable of existing without the other.

Their fingers touched and with great effort, Ben strained, finally he clasping her hand, and she his, he pushed himself up and Rey tugged, pulling him to safety.

Ben sucked in a breath as his ribs flared, the pain igniting his left side like an all-consuming flame, rolling onto his back, he pushed himself up, resting on his elbows. Rey was sat, slumped beside him, leaning over to search his face, for what he didn’t know.

Rey was trembling as she looked him over, pleased that she found no any sign of fatal injury…he was in pain she knew, but his ribs and arm would heal.

With wide eyes, Rey looked at him as though seeing him for the first time, he suddenly felt humbled, made somehow smaller by the simple nearness of her

“You took my hand” she stated softly, ignoring the sting of tears in the corners of her eyes.

Ben swallowed thickly, shifting his position, unable to break his gaze from hers 

“Well…you just took so damn long…” he shrugged, hoping she would take his words as he meant them.

She did. Ben felt something inside him swell upon hearing the tumble of laughter that fell from her dry, chapped lips. 

Beautiful

His own laughter, a few octaves lower than her own, joined Rey’s. 

It was then they realized, simultaneously, how close they really were, almost chest to chest and Rey had lowered her head to laugh at his feeble joke, she raised it to find their foreheads almost met, with just a centimetre or two of dusty air between them. 

Their laughter was paused and Rey momentarily forgot what they had been laughing about in the first place as she suddenly became lost in his eyes, dark and endless as the expanse of Space itself.

Blood seeped lazily from a minor cut along his hairline. 

Rey lifted a hand, briefly inspecting the cut on his forehead, before letting her fingers trail down to linger at his cheek. 

For a split second Ben swore he stopped breathing, her touch, so strong and so powerful in battle, now became gentle, and her touch warm against his coldness (medical attention, a warm bed and a hot drink would remedy that) and Rey slowly let her forehead rest against his. They each felt the others breathe fan their cheeks as they took a moment to absorb it all.

He was alive, so was she.

They would no longer be separated as Sith and Jedi, neither black and consumed with hate, nor white self-righteous and pure…but Grey; balanced, stabilized by the continued existence of the other.  
And that was all it was, a moment, at least in Bens’ mind because suddenly she was kissing him!

And all at once his pain, past and present, emotional and physical, was gone, and replaced with nothing but acceptance, and love.

He responded seconds later, wanting to return the gesture, to pour everything he felt for Rey in that moment into her, to take away her pain as she did his, for her to feel him as he could feel her.

Breaking the kiss, as though dazed from its’ intensity, made possible by their unique bond, they sway slightly, only just realizing how tightly they held each other; Rey’s calloused hands and short nails dug into his shoulders, Ben’s larger, smoother hands gripped the tops of her arms, keep her close.

Rey shook her head slightly, a smile gracing her features

“We can’t stay here, can you stand?” she asked quietly, Ben nodded.

With her help, he got to his feet and they made their way to the small shuttle.

As the shuttle rose from the ground, standing side by side the pair watched as Exegol drifted further from their sight

‘Good.’ Rey thought

With the destruction of Palpatine, finite at long last, there would never be a need for anyone to ever return to this desolate, despair inducing planet, that the Sith really were obliterated from existence. 

Rey glanced down, seeing her fingers trembling between them, why she could not guess. Like she had been, he was focused on watching the planet fade from sight as the ship rose.

She looked up at him, without turning the rest of her body to his, taking in the pale pallor of his skin, there was a slight slump in his stance, caused by his broken ribs, but selfishly, Rey didn’t urge him to rest just yet, simply absorbing him, memorizing every angle and curve in his features.

Even with her friends, Poe, Finn, BB8…there had always been something missing, some missing piece of her that needed to be filled…Ben.

He was that missing piece, the other half of her that she could never be without, not again.

Feeling her gaze on him, Ben looked at her; there it was again, the feeling of comfort and love she projected into his mind, strong and sure

“Ben…” she started shakily, opening her mouth to continue, only for words to fail her.

Ben didn’t quiet smile, and Rey returned her gaze to face the front window of the ship, but closed entwined his fingers with hers in the space between them, breaking the low light of the ship

“I know”


End file.
